December Newsletter 2021
Valley View Elementary School
From Principal Kuhlman
“Coming together is the beginning; Keeping together is progress; Working together is success.” -Henry Ford
I want to express how proud and impressed I am with our school community. We as parents, families, and teachers have come together to support our children. Life is not easy right now. COVID has once again spiked, causing an influx of positive cases in our school. This has caused significant learning disruptions for a number of our families. For this, I am truly sorry. We are following the quarantine protocols given to us by the Minnesota Department of Health. Parents and students have been so flexible and patient as we set them up for remote learning. Teachers are working extra hard to plan lessons and assignments that can engage all learners despite their learning location. I know this isn’t ideal, but we are doing the best we can with what we have. Together we will get through this.
COVID quarantines have been a big part of our work over the last couple of weeks. I am anticipating more of them to come with the holidays right around the corner. Nurse Kelly is doing a wonderful job of working with parents to determine if students need to stay home or can return to school. If students are directly exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID, and were considered a close contact, they will need to be quarantined. This is usually at lunch or breakfast, where students do not have masks on. One way to avoid this quarantine is to have your child vaccinated. Students who are fully vaccinated for at least two weeks will not have to quarantine, as per MDH guidelines. Please consider having your child vaccinated. We are scheduling a vaccine clinic on December 16th from 1-5pm at Valley View.
As the weather is getting colder, we are seeing an increase in the number of parent pick-ups. We are trying to make this as efficient and as safe as possible. To help with this, we are asking families to remain in their vehicle at all times. Parents should line up double wide on the west side of the parking lot. This helps to alleviate congestion on 49th. As they round the turn, they should zipper merge into one line to pick up their child. Please do not double park and have your child run across traffic. If you want to leave your car to pick up your child, please park in one of the spaces provided in the lot. I know this is a point of frustration, however, we need patience more than ever in order to keep our students safe. An alternative to entering the lot would be to park on Monroe and walk to the playground to pick up your child.
The holiday season can be hard on all of us. This year, with the added stresses of COVID, could make for a very difficult time. Please know you are part of the bigger Valley View Community. We are ready to help and support you, as needed. We have asked so much from you in terms of support with your child learning during this pandemic. We stand ready to repay that support.
Thank you to the Valley View Community for all that you do!!
Mr. Kuhlman
3rd Grade
Hello, from 3rd Grade!
We have been very busy in Third Grade! In Reading, we have learned how asking and answering questions makes us better readers. We have also been learning how to infer while we read. Now that we are finished creating our very own monster stories in writing, we will spend time thinking about what we are thankful for. This quarter, we will focus on writing great paragraphs! In Math, we have been learning how to add and subtract numbers up to 10,000 with regrouping. We have been working hard practicing our math facts every day! As a reminder, families can read and practice math facts together each night!
4th Grade
Fourth Graders have enjoyed many hands-on, creative, and collaborative activities so far this year. After a long year online, we are so grateful to have students back in person! In Reading, we’ve built our stamina, practiced making inferences, and on one special Friday did some “flashlight reading.” In Math, we’ve learned about shapes, lines, angles, and more. Groups showed cooperation while creating polygons. We’ve also learned all about maps, plants, and our brain during our Social Studies, Science, and SEL rotations. We can’t wait to continue the learning and fun this quarter!
Dot Day Mobile
PTO Information
To stay in the loop about school and PTO activities and to spread the word to other families, please like and share us at www.facebook.com/ValleyViewMNPTO and www.instagram.com/ValleyViewMNPTO.
About Us
All Belong, All Succeed
Email: KuhlmanJ@colheights.k12.mn.us
Website: https://www.colheights.k12.mn.us/VVES
Location: 800 49th Avenue Northeast, Columbia Heights, MN, USA
Phone: 763-528-4200
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VVisd13